Maddie had been uncharacteristically quiet on the tram ride back from Downtown; no jokes, no side comments, nothing. She was still maintaining her grin, but it felt more forced than normal. Meanwhile, Elena and I had just been leaning against one another. That felt nice, at least, the two of us snuggling together. Her shoulder was warm and steady, so I was focusing on that, and how her arm curled around mine.

  When we got back to campus, we went straight up to the Special Case room. It was just the three of us; no Jessica, Anton, or Siobhan, but also no Red, which gave me pause.

  The door shut behind us with a heavy click. Maddie almost immediately made her way to the small kitchen in the corner of the room, pulling out cups.

  “S-shouldn’t Red be part of this?” I asked, looking around.

  She shook her head. “I’m gonna report this more ‘officially’ when we’re done. I’ve told her we had to call it quits early though.”

  That…doesn’t seem right. I thought. But who was I to question her, she was my senior.

  She placed the cups on the table, one for each of us. I’d gone for cocoa, something sweet to keep my brain wired.

  The three of us just…sat for a second. I took a sip, accidentally loud enough that I was certain the other two heard, blushing slightly.

  “So,” Elena finally said, looking up at Maddie. “You wanna tell us stuff about Patch, or…?”

  Maddie smirked, scoffing slightly. “Where do you want me to start?”

  “H-How does she know you?” I asked.

  Maddie huffed as she put her cup down and leaned in, her grin falling a little.

  “Patch is a super-criminal now, obviously. But before, she was actually a student here.”

  There was a long pause, as the words hung in the air.

  “Fucking what,” Elena asked, flatly, but clearly as surprised as I was.

  “Right?” Maddie laughed, sharp, “Yeah, she was in the year above me and Jessica. That’d make her, what, twenty? Twenty-one now? We weren’t like, super-close or anything but we got along.”

  That surprised me, too. The idea that she was barely older than the three of us completely threw me for a loop, but the fact that she’d been a student?

  “W-was she always like…that?” I asked.

  “Which bit?” Maddie asked dryly, “The airheaded bimbo bit, or her being a complete psycho?”

  “I-I…both?” I answered.

  “Rhetorical question, Skye.” Maddie sighed, “But no, she wasn’t always like that. She was a good student; quiet, but nice. Smart too, like really smart.”

  She paused.

  “Her Manifestation Event was bad, though. Like ‘it’s a miracle that she survived.’ bad. Fucked her up worse than anyone realised.”

  I remembered my own Manifestation Event, shuddering. The impact of the truck slamming into Dad’s car, nearly killing us, my bones erupting out from under me. It felt…weird to reminisce on that, as I never really thought about it all that much.

  “What was her power, though?” Elena asked, looking at Maddie and then at me. “I never really got close enough to see.”

  “I-I think she- she heals fast? Like me?” I answered, slowly glancing at Maddie for confirmation.

  “Got it in one, Skye.” Maddie smirked, nodding, “Yep, her one and only power is regeneration. But like, the most potent regeneration anyone’s ever seen. Skye: I know you can heal quicker than a normal person, but Patch makes you look like a normal person, it’s ridiculous.”

  I remembered fighting her, the blade sinking into her side and knitting itself back together as soon as I pulled it out, or the sensation of her eyeball bursting from my punch. It made me feel nauseous again. Especially how she’d laughed as I’d hit her.

  “You shoot her? The hole seals up before the bullet’s out of her. You slice into her? She starts healing around the knife. I’ve seen her come back from-” Maddie grimaced, “Getting reduced to a smear and some stray limbs. The body pulled itself back together good as new within a minute or two. So when I said we can’t deal with Patch, I meant it.”

  I looked at Elena, who had a pretty grave look on her face. I must’ve looked the same.

  “Jesus Christ…” Elena whispered.

  “Yeah, it’s bad.” Maddie admitted, bluntly.

  “Y-you said she was a good student before…?” I asked.

  Maddie nodded. “‘Til she suddenly wasn’t.”

  Elena looked at her like she was waiting for a response.

  “...And?” She prompted.

  Maddie rolled her eyes. “I don’t know the full story, sorry. All I know is she had some kind of breakdown and just went nuts before running into the city. Next time I saw her, she was like what you saw: completely fucking unhinged.”

  For some reason, the idea that someone like that had been like us really creeped me out.

  “Razor and Twist were one thing,” Elena muttered, “But they had their heads screwed on straight. I legit thought she was gonna try and gut us.”

  “S-she nearly did gut me…” I murmured. Elena immediately grabbed my hand, squeezing it tight.

  “I’ll be honest, we got extremely lucky that it was all three of us.” Maddie said, “I don’t want to think about what would’ve happened if she’d gotten one of you alone.”

  I turned to look at Elena. The thought flashed in my mind, of Patch cornering her alone, without either of us to help her. The idea terrified me, and I pulled her into a tight hug.

  “Do you think we’ll run into her again?” Elena asked as her face was buried in my shoulder, slightly muffled.

  Maddie leaned back, running a hand through her hair. “I…don’t know. Thing is, she’s unpredictable, right? But she’s also a vindictive bitch, if she thinks you’ve wronged her, she’ll make a beeline for you.”

  I paused, looking at Maddie. I was about to open my mouth, before-

  “Yes.” Maddie answered the question before I even asked it. “That’s why she went after me, we had a bit of a falling out before she went crazy and she’s still holding a grudge.”

  Elena looked between her and me. “What the fuck just-”

  “As for why she went after you two,” Maddie continued, ignoring Elena, “She said as much; you put Razor and Twist in jail, and she’s apparently friends with them. Couldn’t tell you why they chose her. But goodie for her, all three of us in one place.”

  “B-but she kept calling you-”

  “She’s a fucking psycho, Skye,” Maddie cut in, quickly, “She’ll probably start calling you a weird petname if she sees you again.”

  I narrowed my eyes a bit. Maddie wasn’t always looking at me when she spoke about Patch. In fact, she wasn’t looking at me now.

  Is she…lying to us?

  TAP-TAP-TAP.

  The sound of tapping on glass made me jump. I spun around, only to see Jessica, dressed casually in a black jacket and black pants, floating at the window.

  “I’ve got it.” Elena said, bounding over to the window and pulling it open for Jessica to fly inside.

  “Fuck.” Maddie groaned, quiet enough that I barely heard her as Jessica touched down and turned to look at us.

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  “Thought you guys were on patrol.” Jessica said.

  “We were.” Elena replied. “Maddie cut it short.”

  “Really?” Jessica asked, turning to Maddie, “You cut it short? You get your ass kicked real bad or something?”

  Maddie flipped her off.

  “No I didn’t ‘get my ass kicked real bad’, you bitch.” She said, backhanding Jessica in the stomach as she approached. “We just had a bit of a rough one, that’s all.”

  Jessica folded her arms, smirking. “Funny, I thought these two were the hot shit around here, thought they could handle anything.”

  She was staring directly at me, her voice positively dripping with sarcasm, and I could feel myself getting wound up.

  “So,” she continued, still holding her gaze on me, “Who’d you fuck with?”

  There was a pause as I stared at her. I went to open my mouth, and out of the corner of my eyes I saw Maddie’s eyes widen.

  She started, “No-!”

  “Patch.” I said, my voice firm.

  Silence rang across the room. Maddie froze in place for a moment, before she put her hand to her forehead and groaned, her face paling.

  The look on Jessica’s face completely changed. That smirk on her face was gone, twisting into anger.

  “What?” She growled, as a faint, familiar golden glow began to envelop her. “Run that fucking name by me again?”

  “P-Patch?” I repeated. Whatever bravado I’d built up evaporated out of me immediately.

  “What do you fucking mean you saw Patch?!” She barked, “She wouldn’t be dumb enough to show her face again!”

  Maddie shot to her feet. “Jessie, please!”

  “Fuck no, Mads!” Jessica snapped, now floating a few inches off of the ground. “Not after what she did to you. She nearly gutted you-!”

  “Jessica, stop!” Maddie shouted, loud and shrill. It completely cut through the room, silencing her, and leaving us all tense. I saw that golden glow around Jessica slowly fade away from her, and that expression of rage had changed; she looked guilty now, clearly realising that she’d said too much.

  A few seconds passed, before:

  “Skye, Elena.” Maddie said, her voice quiet, her face turned away from us. “Consider yourselves dismissed, okay?”

  Then she turned to look at us both, trying to keep up her signature grin, but I could tell something was wrong: she was trying hard to keep her lip from quivering, and I could see tears building up in her eyes.

  “Skye.” She said, her voice cracking slightly. “Go. It’s ok.”

  I nodded, grabbing Elena’s hand and making a hasty exit out of the room, closing the door behind us.

  A torrent of emotions was swirling inside me. Guilt, confusion, anger, nervousness, fear.

  With each emotion, a question:

  What history did they have?

  What had Patch done to Maddie?

  Why was Maddie lying to us about it?

  Would Maddie be ok? Would she forgive me for telling Jessica about Patch?

  But then, I finally processed what Jessica had actually said, that Patch had ‘gutted’ Maddie?

  Had she tried to kill her?

  “Earth to Skye!” Elena called out, tapping me in the side and snapping me back to reality.

  “S-Sorry!”

  “You ok?” She asked, “You’ve got that look on your face like you’re overthinking shit.”

  “I-I think M-Maddie’s lying to us.” I said quietly as we walked away.

  “Yeah, no shit.” Elena scoffed beside me. “What’re we going to do about it?”

  I paused, thinking.

  “M-maybe I need to l-look Patch up?”

  Elena just stared at me.

  “You’re going to look up the regenerating psycho-bitch who nearly stomped your guts out?” Elena asked, looking at me like I was insane.

  “N-No, I-.” I started, “Maybe? I-I just…feel like we need to know m-more about her if she’s going to p-pop up again?”

  “Like what, criminal records or something?” Elena asked, before she started thinking, “Maybe some of your powerscaling forum buddies might know.” She grinned.

  I blushed. I’d forgotten she knew about that.

  “But honestly?” She said, looking up at me, “Not a bad idea, it’s smart. Not now though. Let’s grab some lunch.”

  I nodded, smiling, taking her hand in mine as we walked outside.

  Even though I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was about to go wrong.

  Sewers are like, so gross. Patch thought as she lay sprawled on the maintenance walkway beneath the manhole, arms flung out and boots dangling over sluggish brown water. When the cover had slammed shut and taken a few of her fingers with it, she’d dropped and landed with a wet splash, foul water flying around her and soaking her clothes and hair. The stink was unreal: old water, waste, rust, all of it clung to her skin and clothes like a wet blanket. But she was just lying there; letting the grime and refuse of the sewer permeate into her clothes.

  She smiled, holding her right hand in front of her face; sure, she’d lost three fingers to that cover, but pale flesh was already crawling up from the stumps like worms from dirt, and with a melody of soft clicking and cracking sounds they were done growing back already, fresh and smooth like a newborn baby.

  “Aaw, look at you guys,” She cooed fondly. “So cuuute.”

  She let her hand drop back to her chest and giggled, glancing back up at the manhole cover.

  “Should I go up there? It could be like, so funny!” She said out loud to herself. “Wait ‘til they think I’m gone and then boo!”

  She snorted, kicking her heels lightly against the concrete. Part of her really wanted to, just to see the look on their faces; especially Maddie’s. God she’d missed Maddie. Plus, she could go another round or five with those two newbies.

  But no. It wouldn’t really be worth it. Either she’d get bored after a while or they’d give out like most people did.

  Eventually, she pulled herself up from the muck with a sigh and brushed herself off; it did absolutely nothing, but she gave herself points for trying.

  “I need like, a nice hot bath when I get back.” She said out loud to herself, her voice bouncing around the tunnel as she walked. She didn’t really know where she was going, but that wasn’t a problem; she’d find a way out sooner or later.

  Her mind wandered as she walked, as it often did, thinking back to that fight. It had been so nice to see Maddie again after all this time, still trying to be “little miss all-knowing and smiley”. Still fighting dirty too with her weird sometimes-there, sometimes-not thing that she did, so stupid.

  “She’s still like, so irritating though.” She muttered, annoyed. “God.”

  Her mind wandered more, to the two new girls Maddie was with. The short and chubby one who kept spitting stuff at her, she was just annoying. Cute, but annoying. Patch couldn’t even get close to her to see if she was good in a fight either.

  But that other girl, the tall one with the bones. She was different, really different. The way she fought, like she was letting herself cut loose; she squared up to Patch in a way that nobody else had in years.

  Patch remembered how she’d looked, too; the bones ripping through her body and then winding back into her, her skin reforming like-

  “Wait a second…” She said to nobody as she rounded a corner. Patch remembered stabbing that bone-girl in the shoulder, the way she screamed. But she’d been fine, like it hadn’t bothered her after a few seconds. Come to think of it, it didn’t seem like she hurt all that much when her bones ripped through her skin, either.

  “Is she…like me?” Patch whispered. She stopped walking, her head tilting. The thought made something warm uncurl in her chest.

  “Can she heal good too?” She asked, a smile crawling across her face.

  Patch remembered each hit like it was fresh: the bone-blade cutting into her side, the hook getting caught in her shoulder, the way she’d burst Patch’s eye like a water balloon.

  “God, that felt good.” She murmured, absentmindedly feeling the socket around the eye with her hand.

  She loved the pain, the electric feeling of it, and how her body snapped back like it had never happened; she’d lost count of how many eyes she’d lost by now.

  But even then, that bone-girl kept going for her. She looked spooked, sure, but she didn’t run away, she didn’t freak out like so many other people did. She got properly inside her, too.

  Patch let herself giggle a little bit, running a hand over where that bone-blade had torn into her chest the first time, her hands gently dancing across it. There wasn’t a scar or a mark, there never was - except for her face, those would never go away - but she could still feel it clear as a day.

  Bone-girl couldn’t heal as fast as Patch did; nobody could. But that didn’t matter to her.

  “Maybe she…” She whispered, smiling dreamily, “Maybe she can keep up with me…”

  She paused, feeling something strange in her chest. A familiar, fluttery feeling in her chest like butterflies.

  “Oh…”

  Her mind wandered, remembering how it had felt: bone sliding against her flesh, her boot against bone-girl’s guts, the two locked in that headbutt contest.

  She began to imagine herself and bone-girl locked in a fight, bone grinding against Patch’s flesh as she kept coming back, the feeling of meat and skin being torn open and pulled back together. She knew bone-girl wouldn’t let up, she’d just keep going and going until-

  She felt herself flush red, her breath hitching. She couldn’t get the image out of her head, it just felt so good.

  “S-so hot…” She panted, a little breathless, her face flushed bright red. She’d almost forgotten how this had felt; nobody had made her feel like this in years. She had to lean against the sewer wall to steady herself, so euphoric that she nearly toppled over.

  Then it clicked.

  “Oh.”

  Her eyes glittered, her grin widened. She hugged her arms around herself, squealing with delight.

  “Oh!”

  She was in love. She was in love with this gangly, bony stranger. The only person she’d seen in ages that she felt could keep up with her, that really got her, and didn’t immediately run away.

  She laughed, giddy. She felt ridiculous. No, she felt amazing.

  “I think…I want to take her on a date,” she declared, beaming, “Nobody else. Just me and bone-girl.”

  She giggled again, skipping down the sewer tunnel, water splashing under her boots as she went, that feeling of a newfound love bright and hot in her chest.

  She had to get back to Razy and Twisty.

  She had a date to plan.